In a series of meetings held over a period of three days, the National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works (CONTU) heard presentations, arranged by the American Society for Information Science, on information systems in general and on the operations of specific systems. The first presentation covered information storage and retrieval. Next a representative from the National Science Foundation described research and development in information handling. In a meeting at the National Library of Medicine (NLM) the commissioners heard about the evolution of medical information systems, current NLM operations, possible effects on NLM of proposed copyright legislation, and NLM resources and copying practices. Two legal information systems, LEXIS and WESTLAW, were described. Other reports covered automated journal production and the costs of such systems. The American Chemical Society's information programs were used to illustrate a professional society's approach to information. Discussions of information programs involving numeric data bases included legal protection of the information. A general discussion on the presentations and the future direction of the commission followed. (LS)

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